Selina Meyer
Selina Catherine Meyer '''(née Eaton; born 1967) is an American politician who served as the 45th President of the United States from 2016 to 2017. Prior to this, she served as the 47th Vice President of the United States, serving from 2013 to President Stuart Hughes' resignation in 2016. Before becoming Vice President, she served as a United States Senator and a United States Representative from Maryland. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Meyer's political career began in the early 1990s. After running unsuccessfully for Maryland State Senate, Meyer was eventually elected to Congress in 1998 and later becomes a U.S. Senator. She campaigned for President in the 2012 election, and is initially see as a rising star within the party. She ultimately loses in the primaries to Stuart Hughes, and becomes his Vice President. When he decides not to seek a second term, she subsequently campaigns in the 2016 election. After three years of serving as his Vice President, she ascends to the presidency after his resignation. Meyer wins the party nomination and faces off against Arizona Senator Bill O'Brien in the general election. However, after the electoral college gridlocks, Meyer loses the presidency to Laura Montez. Meyer's presidency is considered to be among the worst of all-time, with Meyer being ranked 43rd out of 44 presidents in terms of effectiveness. Her presidency was also the third shortest in U.S. history, behind James A. Garfield and William Henry Harrison. Meyer is the main character of the HBO original series ''Veep'''''. She is portrayed by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Early life Selina was born in 1967 to Catherine Calvert Eaton and businessman Gordon Dunn Eaton and raised in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Meyer was born into a wealthy family and had a horse as a pet growing up, something that is mocked as showing how out of touch she is in Alicia. She had a difficult relationship with her exacting and controlling mother, who criticized her weight and would not let her use the "good" piano; this is something she remembers with bitterness at her mother's funeral in Mother. Selina's political career was sparked by her father who introduced her to Nixon and told Selina that, like Nixon, she was not well-liked but she was respected. Her father died in 1979. Selina grew up in Maryland, but attended boarding school out of state. Selina attended Smith College in Massachusetts. Selina married businessman Andrew Meyer. Selina says she and Andrew didn't make her first million dollars until she was in her thirties. Their daughter Catherine Selina Meyer was born on June 9, 1994. They divorced after twelve years of marriage. In the early 1990s, she was a lawyer and worked at a firm, as revealed in Mommy Meyer, and was friends with Anna, Sarah, and Deborah. It was during her time as a lawyer that she met and became friends with Karen Collins. House, Senate, and First Run for President (1999 - 2013) Congress Selina began her political career by running unsuccessfully for Maryland State Senate in the mid-1990s, which she lost, triggering a mental breakdown which resulted in her temporarily being institutionalized. During this time, Selina says she went to a "spa". According to Selina, the press regarded her as "Selina Vanderbilt". She was successfully elected to Congress in 1998. In 2004, Selina and Tom James had a "sexually-charged moment" after the "Sharply Debate". Selina is offended when, twelve years later, Tom has no idea what she was talking about. Senator of Maryland & 2012 presidential campaign Selina was later elected to the U.S. Senate. In a Kissing Your Sister deleted scene, Selina says she was Senator for only one term. During her time in the Senate, she met and became close with Mike, who also implied that she drank heavily during this time. It was during her first term as Senator that Selina decided to run for President in the 2012 election. Mike was the one who ran her failed campaign. According to the Veep intro, Selina did very well in New Hampshire but did poorly on Super Tuesday. In the primaries, she lasted until at least Oregon. After ultimately losing in the primaries, Selina accepted the role of running mate for Stuart Hughes. According to Mike, the two biggest mistakes of her primary campaign was "she looked tired and the hat. The hat hurt us". The two biggest mistakes according to Dan were that "she spent too much time in New Hampshire and the attack ads in Oregon came up way too soon. It made you look mean before you had to be mean." According to Selina, she spoke in favor of immigration amnesty all throughout the primary campaign. In the general election campaign, Selina became bitter with Hughes' senior strategist Kent Davison, primarily for forcing Selina to appear more familial with her ex-husband Andrew, including a trip going river rafting, where Selina at night had to hear "Andrew banging that skank on the riverbank". Hughes and Meyer ultimately won the election. On election night, Davison put Andrew on stage, with Selina angry because "it was her night". Hughes and Meyer were both sworn in on January 20, 2013. Vice Presidency (2013 - 2016) A Rocky Start At the start of the first season, Selina is in her first year as the Vice President. It all starts with the Vice President's legislation, the Clean Jobs Act which she wanted to be her legacy. However, the President wanted the Fiscal Responsibility Bill to be passed as soon as possible and quickly that he chose to disregard nine other pieces of legislation, which would include the Clean Jobs Act. In order to pursue the Clean Jobs Act, she wanted to include several parts of the provision to the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, to be known as the McKonney Amendment for which she votes against in order to ensure the President's trust in her. The Office of the Vice President is later held up in another scandal when the Chief of Staff to the Vice President, Amy Brookheimer, fires a smiling Secret Service agent. She later found out she was pregnant with Ted's child, which would later be miscarried. The first season ended with her endorsement of Congressman Furlong as Governor of Ohio, and her promotion of Dan to Director of Policy and Presentation. An Administration in Crisis Selina campaigns for Senators and Congresspeople running in the 2014 midterms. Selina's party ultimately does poorly, but President Hughes' notices that Selina has a 0.9% lead over him campaign-wise; as a result, he gives her more authority in foreign policy, starting with a Hostage Crisis in Uzbekistan. As the hostage crisis unfolds, the hostages are returned safely, except for a marine who loses his leg. Selina conducts budget talks with House Majority Leader Mary King to prevent the Government from shutting down. Meanwhile, A State Department whistleblower later leaks that one of the hostages was a spy, endangering the lives of the other hostages who were not. While President Hughes knew about it, Selina did not. To distract from the spy story, POTUS rejects Selina's budget deals and the Government shuts down, and POTUS blames Selina. With Selina's image growing more and more toxic, a lot of the staff begins looking for other job offers for a Plan B. Selina does an interview with Janet Ryland, who keeps on insisting if she knew anything about the spy. Jonah later announces that the Government shutdown is over. With the interview doing nothing to rehab Selina's image, Dan tells her to do something bold soon. Selina then reveals that she had knowledge that one of the spies was a hostage and apologizes on behalf of the administration, which boosts her favorability. Acting off of her newfound favorability, Selina sets a meeting with donors for a possible Presidential run in 6 years. While this is happening, the House Judiciary Committee is discussing an impeachment vote, resulting in the Senate and the House after POTUS. Tired of her lack of power and constant belittlement at his hand, Selina decides she will not seek a second term as Vice President under Hughes, but rather will run following his second term. Putting an end to these plans, he decides not to seek a second term at all (to evade impeachment), resulting in Selina's decision to run for the nomination in 2016 herself. Second Run for President and Presidency (2015 - 2017) Before the primaries Two months later, Selina publishes a book called "Some New Beginnings: Our Next American Journey" and launches her book tour in Iowa to court possible caucus voters. After Secretary of Defense George Maddox announces his resignation, the Meyer staff goes into crisis mode--fearing his run for president because he would be a big challenge to Selina. Shortly after, however, President Hughes announced he would not seek re-election. On October 18, 2015, Selina announced her candidacy for President of the United States at a campaign event in Annapolis, Maryland. Selina, eager to choose a campaign manager, looks to Bill Ericsson to run her campaign. However, Ericsson refuses, going to work for Joe Thornhill and his campaign instead. During a visit to George Maddox's country house in Virginia, Selina tries to convince him not to run by offering him the position of Vice President. He offers her the same role. After they both decline, Maddox announces his candidacy the next day. Shortly after, Minnesota Governor Danny Chung and Nevada Congressman Owen Pierce announce their candidacies for President. While in Detroit at an economic summit, Selina becomes close with Ray Whelans, a personal trainer recommended by Gary. Their relationship soon becomes sexual. Jonah, who is now working with Maddox, tries to unearth Ray's beliefs, including an article he wrote saying he hates fat people. In London for the 100th anniversary of World War I, Selina is accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Peter Mitchell as they do a joint press conference. At the press conference, however, Selina is bombarded with questions regarding the state of mind of Ray. Ray is subsequently fired. Before returning home, Selina learns that FLOTUS has attempted to take her own life. At the primary debate, Selina tries to unearth rumors that Thornhill had an affair. Thornhill admits to this on live TV and apologizes. Selina also tries to reinforce her three R's--Reform, Reaffirm, Renew--but forgets the third R and replaces it with Repel. Her three R's turn out to be quite popular, as she comes in second place in the debate, behind Thornhill, but ahead of Chung, Pierce, and Maddox. Primaries and Caucuses In January 2016, the primaries begin, and Thornhill wins the Iowa caucus. The staff tries to fix Selina's inability to connect with blue-collar voters by standing on top of a crate (secretly reinforced with titanium so she won't fall through) and addressing crowds with a megaphone. This backfires, though, as it turns out the cost to make the crate is in the thousands. Selina begins looking forward to the New Hampshire primary, a state she did very well in when she ran four years earlier. However, after being recorded calling her financial donors idiots, Selina is contemplating the suspension of her campaign, seeing no path to victory. While deliberating, Kent informs that her that, in order to better care for his wife, President Hughes has decided he will resign. Per the Presidential Line of Succession, Selina is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Weeks into her presidency, Selina and her staff mess up her speech to a joint session of Congress by continuing Hughes' old spending plans. Selina wants to fund a Families First Bill to improve the lives of impoverished families, and, for a mailer, child mortality data is breached and used for the mailer, in what is later deemed the "Medileaks scandal" by the press. Dan is scapegoated for this. Eager to turn around declining approval ratings, Selina does a 10-day "world peace tour", visiting countries such as Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, making an extra stop in Iran to free detained reporter Leon West. It is later revealed that the tour was very popular and could've contributed to her securing the party nomination. At the Party Convention, despite actually wanting him to exit the ticket, Selina is left unprepared when Andrew Doyle, who had been serving as her Vice President, leaves the ticket. Amy passionately feels that Selina should select Maine Senator Tom James as her running mate, due to his popularity and low political liability. She refuses to because of a brief incident between the two several years ago. After Selina continually defers to her wishy-washy friend Karen, Amy abruptly quits her position as campaign manager and freaks out on her. Though Selina is appalled by Amy's outburst, she ultimately accepts her advice and asks Tom to join her ticket, which he accepts. General election Selina secures her party's nomination, and must now face a general election battle against Arizona Senator Bill O'Brien. However, Selina is upset when Tom continually upstages her on the campaign trail. She also confides in Gary that she thinks Tom is making a pass at her, referring to a time she feels they almost slept together many years ago when she was a new Senator. When she confronts him about this incident, he appears to have no recollection, and she is mortified. In Mommy Meyer, it is revealed that Selina won the first presidential debate. Selina is then the victim of an attempted assassination when an intruder breaks into the White House. While reconnecting with old friends from law school (from whom she finds herself disconnected and politically disagreeable), another intruder also enters in an attempt to kill her. In B/ill, Selina is suffering from the flu, but still works out of the Executive Residence. After discovering that the Families First Bill must fail if she wishes to win the presidency, she tasks Ben and Kent with destroying it. They plan to hire Amy and Dan to lobby against the bill secretly, but the plan backfires when the lobbyists and Meyer team give a Congressman the same data. Despite a Congressional Hearing, Selina and her team escape relatively unscathed after scapegoating Bill Ericsson for misappropriating funds. On the night of the 2016 presidential election, Selina watches the election unfold from a hotel room. She nearly concedes the election to O'Brien after seemingly being mathematically eliminated, before a series of CNN calls are rescinded, putting her back into play. The season ends on an electoral college tie, with the likely scenario of Tom becoming the President. Much to her disgust, he offers her the position of Vice President if this is the case. Election aftermath The following day, Selina tries to secure her presidency, bitter that she won the popular vote but isn't president. She looks to win by manipulating Amy into coming back to work with her and heading up a possible Nevada recount. Selina ends up losing the recount, and O'Brien exceeds the margin he won, so much so that he ends up winning the national popular vote. She also enlists Dan to manage Jonah's congressional campaign run, something she wants so that he can vote for her to break the tie and assure her presidency. Selina tries to neutralize Tom James by turning him into her economy czar, forcing him to deal with the tanking economy. After taking over his task force in order to look important, she meets CEO Charlie Baird and has a brief sexual fling with him. Because he is spotted leaving the White House, she is forced to pretend they are dating for a while. While flirting with him online, she accidentally tweets an insulting message about her opponent, Senator O'Brien. To escape the heat, she blames it on Chinese hackers, swiftly imposing sanctions for the data "breach". The move ends up accidentally working in her favor, as the Chinese government joins her in secret talks in order to drop the sanctions. Selina is also forced to contend with the death of her narcissistic mother, who leaves the bulk of her fortune to Catherine. She later learns that Catherine now identifies as a lesbian, after falling in love with Selina's body double, Marjorie. She then discovers Tom's plan to steal the presidency. After a heated confrontation, the two sleep together, but it is implied that he will not back down from his plan. In the vote in Congress, neither Selina nor O'Brien receives a majority of the vote, meaning the decision will go to the Senate, where Tom James is favored to win. Despite her deep reluctance to become VP again, Selina accepts Tom's offer to serve under him, in order to maintain a shred of power, assuming he will win the Senate vote. Unbeknownst to them, Andrew Doyle and Laura Montez had manipulated the Senate vote to be a tie, so that Doyle could select Montez in exchange for Secretary of State. Montez, in place of Selina, is both inaugurated as the first elected woman president and is credited with freeing Tibet. After Marine One flying away breaks down, Selina is caught in the rain as she listens to Montez's inaugural parade. Personality Selina is a political animal, willing to hurt or sacrifice anyone. She has a very narcissistic personality, refusing to accept responsibility or take blame for anything--even if it is her fault. She always finds a way to make it her staffs fault. Selina also is willing to change her political views if it can further her career. Her political positions within the party are described as "moderate", with Danny Chung being described as more liberal and George Maddox being described as more conservative. Despite being so self-absorbed, it does appear sometimes that Selina does care about the American people. In B/ill, she is hesitant to fail the Families First Bill because she thinks it could have a positive impact on peoples lives. Trivia -Selina's secret service nickname is "Sparrow". -Selina's presidency is the third shortest in U.S. history. -Selina is the third president to have never given a State of the Union address. While she did give a speech to a joint session of Congress, it was not an official State of the Union address. Relationships Ted Cullen Ted is introduced as Selina's ex-partner during their younger years. She became pregnant with his child, but had a miscarriage. Andrew Meyer Andrew is Selina's ex-husband, and Catherine's father. Their relationship appears to be volatile, but the ex-couple end up sleeping together. Andrew is notoriously sleazy and bad with money and tries to use Selina's political connections to his advantage. Charlie Baird Charlie is a bank CEO whom Selina meets and is attracted to. Despite only wanting a one-night stand, she is forced to publicly date him after multiple visits to the White House attract the notice of the press. Baird appears to like Selina, willingly playing at being her boyfriend, but abruptly dumps her after she refuses to bail out his bank. Tom James James is Selina's pick for vice president after Doyle leaves her ticket. Selina believes they have a shared history after almost sleeping together 12 years earlier, but James does not remember the event. In season 5, it is revealed that James was jealous of Selina's relationship with Baird and did want to sleep with her. In Season 5, They sleep together after an argument that reveals his jealousy. He also made remarks about, " the green shoes" in the Season 5 finale, which could indicate a future with them. Their relationship becomes very strained after James attempts to steal the presidency from her. Catherine Meyer Catherine Selina's only child. Catherine is very quiet in the first season, but becomes more outgoing as the years progress. Selina loves her daughter, but has a hard time keeping up with her life. Catherine is a vegetarian and has very different ideas about politics than her mother. Catherine shared a close relationship with Selina's mother, who she called Mee Maw. See also * Presidency of Selina Meyer * Timeline of the presidency of Selina Meyer * Selina Meyer presidential campaign, 2012 * Selina Meyer presidential campaign, 2016 Gallery 505.jpg 503.jpg 501-2.jpg 510.jpg Episode-21-08-1920.jpg Episode-25-06-1920.jpg Episode-23-04-1920.jpg Episode-22-07-1920.jpg Episode-28-08-1920.jpg Episode-27-08-1920.jpg Episode-20-06-1920.jpg Episode-12-06-1920.jpg Episode-25-1024.jpg Episode-24-1024.jpg Episode-19-reupload-1024.jpg Episode-21-10.jpeg Episode-05-1024.jpg Episode-04-1024.jpg Episode-01-1024.jpg Episode-12-1024.jpg Veep-episode-38-1280.jpg Episode-03.jpg Episode-21-1024.jpg Veep-episode-33-1280.jpg Veep-episode-32-1280.jpg Veep-episode-30-1280.jpg Category:Characters Category:Vice Presidents Category:Presidents Category:Senators Category:Selina Meyer Category:Presidential Candidates